The basis of policy analysis lies in the recognition of the inability of human beings to anticipate future developments accurately. For example, although nobody planned for the creation of electronic clockmakers or computer literate typists, these skills sprang up overnight in the labour market, because there was demand for them.

There are also some conceptual problems in the manpower approach since it implies that the main purpose of education is employment. that is not true for education encompasses a wider perspective of producing a human person who would be able to play a meaningful role in society.

The labour market is a generalized concept representing the interaction between

The supply (number of persons available for work) and

The demand (number of jobs available) and

The wage rate

Labour-market analysis considers not only the short-term supply and demand for labour, but their allocation among regions, occupations and industries.

The keyword “planning” is our “policy” and “analysis” has become keywords. Policy has more modest , short-term affection than planning.

Labour market analysts constantly adjust short and medium term analyses to reflect changing conditions while keeping the long-term in mind.

The horizon of the manpower planner is long, sometimes as long as twenty years. The labor market analyst has a much shorter horizon.

Manpower planning makes unrealistic estimates/forecasts. It is difficult to make reliable forecasts of manpower requirements for a long period of time. Society is dynamic and political, economic, social and technological changes can take place anytime. In any case, innovations and inventions are by their nature unplanned.

It focuses on the educational profile of workers, rather than their occupation results.

A significant focus of labour market analyses is the concern for poverty and equity rather than strictly production efficiency.

In labour market analysis efficiency is no longer the only criterion of social action rather equity and poverty considerations are taken into account.

This means that in some cases it may be more economically efficient to have more or different individuals to provide a given level of service while from a technical efficiency perspective, fewer individuals are required.

Labour market analysis takes into account the cost involved in increasing the supply of labor through the provision of a particular type of education or training.

Labour market is usually concerned with correcting present imbalances in the labour market and in reassessing the situation periodically in order to take additional corrective action as necessary.